Cadaver Dogs Search for Bodies in Bates City Child Sex Inv- MOHLER father/sons

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http://www.kelowna.com/2009/11/18/missouri-family-accused-of-rape-incest-and-murder-women-recount-years-of-abuse/
Missouri family accused of rape, incest and murder; Women recount years of abuse
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 | 3:40 pm

Canwest News Service

Investigators in Bates City, Missouri spent last week searching for glass Mason jars buried on a family farm, jars that purportedly hold the childhood secrets of six siblings allegedly raped by their uncles and grandfather decades ago.

One of Burrell Edward Mohler Sr.'s granddaughters, who is now 26, met police in August and told a horrifying story of abuse. Now detailed in criminal complaints, search warrants and affidavits filed in court, her allegations include bestiality, sodomy and marriage to her uncles. The girls, she claimed in statements backed by siblings, wore special dresses for their mock weddings, and picked flowers for their hair. The marriages were consummated in a travel camper parked on the 55-acre farm, and a chicken coop.

The abuse allegedly transpired between 1988 and 1995, when the 26-year-old woman was between the ages of five and 11. She claims she had an abortion before she was 12.

"These victims were told to write down memories on paper, and put them in Mason jars and bury them, and the memories would go away," Sgt. Collin Stosberg of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said in an interview.

As investigators converged on the farm to find the jars, they also said they were looking for human remains, although they did not elaborate.

Mr. Mohler, 77, is now charged with rape, sodomy and the use of a child in a sexual performance. His four sons, Burrell Mohler Jr., David Mohler, Jared Mohler and Roland Mohler, also face charges of rape. Friends and relatives are expressing doubt about the claims, which are so graphic and shocking that some say they cannot be true.

As the case progresses, more alleged victims unrelated to the family are coming forward. Investigators are also finding clues in the dirt — among them a broken glass jar, a piece bone and a box apparently buried under the farmhouse — that lead to allegations that are even more shocking.

According to an affidavit filed in court in Lafayette County, Mo., three of the sisters claim they also observed "several murders." They say that when in April, 1988, they were five, six and eight years old, they were forced to help their father, Burrell Mohler Jr., kidnap a stranger in Independence, Mo., after Mr. Mohler faked a heart attack and the man came to his aid.

The girls were blindfolded and taken to their grandfather's farm along with the man, where their father threatened to "kill them unless they killed [the victim] first." One of the girls allegedly stabbed the man from behind, although they claim their father stabbed him in the chest and killed him. They also claim their father forced them to help dig the man's grave.

A detective has also found a credit card, the sole of a shoe or boot, and a pair of eyeglasses on the property.

One of the sisters also claims she saw another child confined in her grandfather's cellar. Indeed, as the Mohlers' arrests made headlines, another woman unrelated to the family called investigators on a tips hotline with claims she was held captive in the cellar of the farmhouse for two years.

The latest victim claims she was repeatedly raped by the Mohler men and became pregnant twice. The Mohlers allegedly put the first baby in a box and buried it in the cellar's dirt floor, which was then covered with a layer of concrete.

Investigators used a radar device to probe beneath the farmhouse and found an "anomaly" buried a foot below the surface, an item in the shape of a box approximately 20 inches by 30 inches in size, according to court documents.

Sgt. Stosberg said there is not yet enough evidence to lay charges relating to the woman's evidence, and investigators will be dealing with her allegations separately.

Earlier this week, authorities seized several items, including at least four guns and pornographic magazines depicting incest, from the eldest Mohler's current residence in Independence, Mo.; the farmhouse is no longer owned by the family.

A sixth man – a 72-year-old brother of Burrell Mohler Sr. – was also charged this week with two counts of rape in the case, and has agreed to extradition to Missouri from Florida.

The Mohlers now face nearly 30 felony counts relating to sex crimes against children, and more charges are anticipated, Sgt. Stosberg said. Three of the men were lay ministers in the Community of Christ church. Those who knew them say there were never indications of any problems.

"Those boys grew up fine young men, and if I could tell them anything, it would be to hold their heads up high and keep their courage up," said William Bruch, a cousin of the eldest Mohler, who attended the men's court appearance on Tuesday.

The investigation continues.

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Missouri Sex Abuse Case Gets Even More Grotesque
Police Documents Indicate Children Were Forced to Kidnap and Stab a Man
 id post the whole story but it is 4pg long

http://www.abcnews.go.com/WN/allegations-brutal-sex-abuse-missouri-spark-outrage-suspicion/story?id=9119012

Court documents released to ABCNews.com this week claim that at one point, several children belonging to Burrell Edward Mohler Jr. were forced to help kidnap a man, and were then given knives and ordered to kill him.

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Homicide claim could hinder Mo. incest, rape cases

Updated: 9:26 a.m. Friday, March 5, 2010

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bizarre allegations of rape, incest and bestiality in western Missouri led to the arrests of six family members last fall and unleashed public scorn over the unthinkable acts they are accused of committing two decades ago.

But one of the more sensational claims — that one of the suspects forced their young victims to help kill a man — is creating an uphill climb for prosecutors that could sink the rest of their case, legal experts say.

Investigators say the sexual abuse allegations have been corroborated by six siblings, at least three of whom say they were raped and molested over a 10-year period beginning in the mid-1980s on a farm east of Kansas City.

Still, the case against Burrell E. Mohler Sr., 77, his brother and four adult sons could be compromised by the homicide claim. Authorities have yet to produce a victim or file homicide charges, and officials are mum about whether a homicide investigation is even under way.

Without a body, prosecutors could face larger doubts about victims' stories that defense lawyers could exploit.

"It's easier to discredit what victims are going to say, given the circumstances, than to prove it," said Thomas Nolan, a criminal justice professor at Boston University. "If I'm the prosecutor, I've got my work cut out for me."

In November, Lafayette County prosecutors unleashed waves of sexual abuse allegations against the Mohlers. Probable cause statements described how one girl was forced into sexual contact with a horse, while another said a dog was forced onto her.

The case took a drastic turn when another search warrant revealed three victims said they observed "several murders" and were forced to help kill and bury a man in April 1988.

The warrant said Burrell E. Mohler Jr. and the children followed a man from a suburban Kansas City shopping center to his home. After abducting the man, Mohler Jr. drove him to his father's Bates City property, where he gave the children knives and ordered them to attack the man, the warrant said.

One child stabbed him, but a stab wound from Mohler Jr. killed the victim, according to the warrant.

The warrant offered no details about the stabbing victim or why he was targeted. No body has been found, and no one was reported missing from the area during that time, investigators said.

If the women's allegations of rape and other atrocities were enough to bring sexual abuse charges against the Mohlers, questions could emerge as to why they weren't enough to also bring homicide charges.

"There are victims in the sex case, but no identifiable homicide victims," said Lafayette County prosecutor Kellie Wingate Ritchie.

Dozens of sex abuse charges have been filed against Mohler Sr., of Independence, Mo.; his four sons, Mohler Jr., 53, of Independence, Jared Leroy Mohler, 48, of Columbia, Mo., Roland Neil Mohler, 47, of Bates City, Mo., and David A. Mohler, 52, of Lamoni, Iowa; and his brother, Darrel W. Mohler, 72, of Silver Springs, Fla.

Darrel, Jared and David Mohler have posted bond; the other three remain jailed. All have denied the accusations.

The Associated Press generally doesn't identify victims of sexual crimes and is not reporting the relationships between the children and the accused.

Cynthia Orr, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, suggested that even without the homicide claim, doubts may linger about the sex abuse case, such as allegations that young girls had to wear special dresses and marry adult family members to have sex.

Victor Vieth, director of the National Child Protection Training Center at Winona State University in Minnesota, said he's rarely surprised by what sex offenders do.

"Sex offenders are only limited bytheir creativity and what their minds can fantasize," Vieth said.

But even Vieth acknowledges the homicide claim could be a burden for the prosecution if allowed in court. Prosecutors' best bet could be to have testimony about the homicide claim barred as irrelevant to the sex charges, he said.

Nolan agrees.

"I would fight like crazy to have anything about statements about killing a guy excluded from the trial," he said.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/nation/homicide-claim-could-hinder-mo-incest-rape-cases-320193.html